Just about every park has a fan who is kind of like a mascot. The guy who either dresses up funny or acts crazy or whatever and eventually comes to be thought of as an institution. The Yankees’ guy was Freddy Schuman, better known as “Freddy Sez,” the octogenarian who held up signs and beat on a frying pan outside — and inside — Yankee Stadium. Freddy Sez died yesterday at 85.

I always wonder how guys like Freddy Sez get their start. I mean, sure, 20 years after he began to bang on the pan it was kind of neat to have him around. But how did that go down on the first day? If a random person just started banging a frying pan at a game in, say, Houston, wouldn’t security make him stop?

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reports Thursday that the Orioles “are said to have begun fielding calls of interest” on superstar Manny Machado and “are close to the point of seriously weighing whether to trade him.”

You’d think it would be a no-brainer for the last-place O’s to flip Machado — an impending free agent — for prospects, but Heyman notes there is “still a question whether or not longtime Orioles owner Peter Angelos” will give the go-ahead. One person familiar with the situation put it a “50-50” likelihood. Another suggested that it would take a massive return, which, sure.

Machado entered play Thursday with a sensational .328/.405/.635 batting line, 15 home runs, and an MLB-leading 43 RBI in 49 games. It’d be a real shock if he’s still wearing an O’s uniform by the end of July.

Heyman reported previously that at least nine teams made aggressive plays for Machado this winter, including the Cubs, Phillies, Dodgers, Indians, Diamondbacks, Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, and Cardinals. A whole lot of those teams still make sense here in late May — maybe all of them except the White Sox.